If a currency reflects a country’s economic health, Russia’s banks should be in intensive care. Yet the country’s largest retail lender, Sberbank, is trumpeting a return on equity that western counterparts can only dream of.
The rouble has dropped 20 per cent against the dollar in the past four months. Russia’s central bank lifted its key interest rate by 3.5 percentage points to 12 per cent last month. That suggests western sanctions are biting.
Or maybe not? Retail banks are often seen as proxies for domestic financial conditions. Sberbank has more than half of the Russian mortgage market and a similar share of lending to smaller companies.